The Land: Raiders: A LitRPG Saga (Chaos Seeds Book 6)

by Aleron Kong

  Richter had managed to get into a sitting position. He was still in a bad mood, but when he glared at the bossy woman and saw her glare right back, he once again decided to appease the powerful little woman. He searched the in-depth knowledge of the spell that he suddenly had access to. The hours he had spent scribing spellbooks had greatly increased his conceptual understanding of magic. The best way he had come up with explaining it was that knowing a spell was like knowing a phone number. You could call it on a cell, no problem, but it didn’t mean you understood how the sound waves of your voice converted to electrical energy and then were transmitted as radio waves. Richter was starting to understand the inner mechanisms of spell work. That was why he was absolutely shocked when he saw that Manifest Mana was missing something that every other spell he knew required. Namely, the need for gestures.

  Curious now, he accessed the spell. His mana pool dropped by one hundred points. Richter felt a slight tug from his center, the place he now knew was his mana core, and a pea-sized mote of mana appeared in front of him. It was the same rich blue as the mana bar on his interface. Hisako’s explanation of his mana condensing also answered a question he had had in the back of his mind for a while. When he improved his Intelligence, the blue bar of his mana deepened to a brighter hue. The same was true for his Constitution and Endurance which deepened the colors of his health and stamina bars respectively. The red of his health bar was by far the most vibrant, which made sense because Constitution was his highest stat.

  Richter stared in fascination at the bright blue sphere floating in front of him. Grabbing it, the tangible magic was malleable, but could only be compressed so far. What it reminded Richter off was squeezing a gummy bear. Not the crappy greasy ones, but the good German ones. ‘Go Haribo or go home’ as he used to say. After about a minute, it just disappeared. “Where did it go?”

  “As I said, at skill level one, the spell is extremely limited,” Hisako replied. “Cast it again and, this time, will it to fire at that rock.”

  Once again, Richter cast Manifest Mana and marveled at the fact that he didn’t have to move his hands to complete the spell. The blue pea also appeared instantly. Even his spells with one second cast times didn’t manifest as quickly. He willed it to fly at the cliff face. The small blue ball shot away and hit the rock, disappearing without a trace.

  “It may not be impressive, but the spell will grow in power,” Hisako repeated. “What you need to do is concentrate on consciously pulling mana from your field into your core. It will feel as if nothing is happening at first, but the more you practice, the more you will be aware of your magical field. Once you can feel it, start trying to pull mana from individual parts of your body. By doing this, you will increase the mana pathways in your body. Once you level Mana Manipulation, Manifest Mana becomes more versatile,” Hisako said with a smile.

  Suddenly, in front of her three small birds appeared. They all opened their mouths and sang. The clarity of their voices was incredible and brought a peace to Richter’s heart. The pixie children swarmed around them, seeing a new toy and raised their voices as well. For a few minutes, the impromptu symphony filled the air, until Hisako waved her hand and the birds disappeared. The pixie children let out a universal “Awwww,” and dispersed, but their song had already had an effect.

  You have heard: Playful Song of the Celestial Pixie. The celestial pixies have celebrated their joy of life and all that it brings. You have been lucky enough to hear this song. You will be much less susceptible to negative emotional influences because of this reminder of the beauty in the world around you. +10% defense against negative emotional effects for the next 24 hours.

  Richter looked at Hisako with a genuine and unreserved smile, which she returned.

  “Did you know that would happen when you summoned your birds?” he asked in wonder.

  She looked at him smugly and said, “Of course I did.”

  Richter chuckled at her cockiness. There was no doubt where Sion got his personality from. The chaos seed looked at all of the new spells he had learned, and joy filled his heart anew. Some of them were even minor in power! From the Lore books he had been reading he knew that most spells were assigned a strength of weak, minor, average, enhanced, potent, superior, powerful, grand and supreme. Up to this point, all of his spells had been weak. Though they were effective, they were limited in strength. She had just given him higher ranked magic! As he reviewed the spells, his mind turned to the practical. “So, which of these summoning spells should I use against the goblins?”

  Hisako looked at him confused, “What do you mean?”

  “I mean when we go into battle, which of these summoned creatures would work best against them? I have been using my weak saproling, but if this spider is better, I’ll use that. I just wish I could summon more than one at once.”

  She looked at him quizzically again, “You can use more than one summoned creature at once, Lord Richter.”

  “What?” Of all of the things that had happened and that he had learned in his conversation with the Hearth Mother, this seemed like the most earth-shattering. “But I tried! When I try to summon a second saproling, the first one always disappears.”

  Hisako opened her mouth to answer, left it open for a moment, then closed it. She shook her head as if she was embarrassed for him. He half expected her to say, ‘Oh honey, you’re so pretty,’ when she finally spoke to him. Thankfully, she had a bit more grace.

  “You are telling me that you tried to summon a creature that you had already summoned?” she asked delicately.

  “Yes,” Richter said slowly and with a bit of chagrin. From the way that she had phrased it, he was pretty sure where she was going with this.

  “And when you tried to summon that one creature… a second time… with the same spell… you were surprised that there was still only one creature?”

  Richter hung his head, and said forlornly, “Yes.”

  “Yesss,” she said slowly and sadly, dragging the word out.

  Richter picked his head up suddenly and tried to protest, “But I thought-”

  He stopped when she just closed her eyes and started shaking her head with pursed lips. The message was clear, ‘Just don’t.’

  The chaos seed sighed deeply. His arms, chest, and head still ached something fierce. It was embarrassing to continue sitting in front of the Hearth Mother, but he didn’t quite feel up to rising yet. Richter decided to make the best of a bad situation. Better to admit ignorance and learn than celebrate your own stupidity, “So you’re saying I can conjure as many creatures as I have spells so long as I don’t run out of mana?”

  “Not exactly,” she admitted. “I am glad that you are asking questions now, though, rather than just making assumptions. You know what you do when you assume, right?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Richter said. “You make and ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me.’”

  “No,” Hisako replied dismissively as if his answer was nonsense. He realized that his response was utter nonsense seeing as how that joke only worked in English. “Assumptions create barriers in your own mind. By taking short cuts in logic, you wall yourself off from true enlightenment.”

  Richter had to admit, what she said sounded much better.

  *What she said sounded a lot better,* Alma interjected.

  *Stay out of this,* he thought to his familiar in irritation. It didn’t matter that she was echoing his own sentiments. Nobody liked a side seat conversationalist.

  “Well how does it work?” he asked.

  “The number of creatures that you can summon is based on multiple factors. Your Intelligence, Charisma, Wisdom, skill in the spell school, and also the creature’s level, properties and disposition all determine how easily you can control it. Obviously, it is easier to summon several docile creatures at the same time, than it would be to summon several hostile creatures with a strong will. There are even more factors which come into play in certain circumstances. Those foolish enough to summon demons, for
instance, will always need to engage in a contest of wills to keep the creatures under their control. A summoning pentagram is also usually recommended.”

  “So how do I know how many creatures I can control safely?” Richter asked.

  “Summoning magic is dangerous,” Hisako answered. “The more powerful the creature, the greater the risk of losing control. If that occurs, you lose the ability to banish the creature without destroying it, though it will still vanish once the spell duration elapses. Most of the time anyway. As far as how many creatures you can safely control, you will need to discover that for yourself.

  If you were a Mage, there is a Talent that helps with this, but for you, it will have to be trial and error. Just remember, the more you summon, the more likely you will lose control of some or all of them. I will tell you that summoning creatures from different spell schools, however, greatly decreases the chances that you will lose control, as opposed to summoning multiple Earth creatures for instance.

  You must also be cognizant of the natural enmity of the creatures you summon. It would be unwise to summon both a fire drake and an ice wurm, for instance. Both creatures are naturally aggressive and, being from opposing Elements, it increases the chance that their innate enmity might overwhelm your control. Life creatures, on the other hand are typically more congenial. Even if you lost control, it is unlikely they would attack you, so much as not obey you. None of what I am telling you is an absolute, however. Remember the angel I summoned to fight off the bugbears. He is a creature of Life, but would still strike your head from your shoulders if you summoned him for reasons that went against his nature. Always remember that summoning sentients should not be done lightly.”

  Richter’s head was spinning from all the information, and he didn’t actually feel closer to a useful understanding yet, but Hisako didn’t pause, “Another exception to the summoning rule seems to be animation, or summoning a formless creature to move an otherwise inanimate husk. Powerful necromancers have been known to control scores of zombies and skeletons, just as Earth magi can animate multiple golems if their bodies are pre-made from clay or stone.

  “In these cases, while you are still summoning a spirit, you are not summoning a creature that can exist independently in The Land. I have heard it explained that these creatures are thankful for being given form and so fight their master’s control much less. Personally, I believe that to all be foolish talk, but still, it is said. There is much more to learn about summoning magic, but for someone at your level, without taking other factors into consideration, it should be sufficient.”

  “I think I got it,” Richter said, despite that being far from the truth. If he was following correctly, it meant he could summon the chokespore arachnid and saproling at the same time, but it might not be as good of an idea as summoning creatures from varying, but non-opposing spell schools. The Ring of Dominant Will he had taken from the Witch Doctor was starting to look a great deal more attractive.

  Richter decided not to mess with his ring configuration on the eve of battle, though. Most of what they were talking about was academic up to this point anyway, seeing as how he only had enough mana to summon three, maybe four creatures at once, and that would tap him out completely. Mana headaches were no picnic. Still, thinking about what she had said, Richter asked, “What ‘other factors’ could increase my ability to control more creatures?”

  She sighed, “Summoning magic is a branch of the arcane that can be studied for an entire lifetime, and still there would be more to learn. Your question is too broad to answer right now, but one example would be magi who Specialize as a Conjuror. As I have already told you, there are Mage Talents that can augment summoning spells as well. I am sure there are even more. After all, oci no suit nima, nino oci sui.”

  Richter translated it as, “The Land is all magic, all magic is The Land.”

  Clearly done with the conversation, she started walking away, but he had a final question, “What should I do if I summon a powerful creature that slips my control?”

  She didn’t stop walking, but just shrugged and called over her shoulder, “Run, and hope that it is slower than you.”

  With that last bit of helpful advice, she walked away, calling over her shoulder that they should leave within the hour. Richter stood there for a few more moments wondering if his power would ever take control of itself and become a danger to him. Ultimately, he realized that it didn’t matter because he would never stop wanting more.

  CHAPTER 20 – Day 141 – Kuborn 31, 15,386 EBG

  An hour later, the battle host was assembled. Hisako had roughly two hundred and fifty sprites at her command. The forces Richter was committing included over seventy meidon sprites and nearly eighty guardsmen. That included twenty Life magi, or biomancers, as they had started calling themselves and twenty-eight aeromancers. He also brought another ten biomancers that didn’t serve in the guard, as support staff. All of his troops were outfitted with the best he could provide. Each member of the war party also imbibed a Potion of Clarity, increasing any experience they gained by 25% for the next twenty-four hours.

  The former wood sprites wore the same green armor that Richter wore, resized by the Hearth Mother to fit their larger frames. The forest sprites that had undergone the meidon were wearing the best leather armor the Forge of Heavens had available. Most of it was enchanted to increase its defense by +3 or +4. His guardsmen wore enchanted mail or leather and basically fell into three categories of armaments: sword and shield; mace and shield; or two-handed spear.

  Richter left organizing the troops to Terrod, Caulder, and Sion. He was otherwise occupied with Yoshi. In his typically brusque manner, the sword adept walked up to him and gave an order, “Hold still. I need to assess your War Leader skill.”

  A white light seemed to turn on behind the half-sprite’s eyes as he looked at Richter. Knowing how dangerous the sword adept was, having him scrutinize you with glowing, white, demon eyes was more than just a little disconcerting. Richter was happy when the adept’s eyes went back to normal a moment later.

  “You bought the badge, Sphere of Influence I, so your total SoI should be two hundred yards,” Yoshi said. It was clear he was talking to himself more than to Richter. “You also bought four ranks in forest movement. Hmmm.” He actually addressed the chaos seed for the first time, “I am actually impressed at your choice. Most human war leaders think short term and only see the value of brute force. I am surprised that you did not invest all of your points into melee attack and defense.”

  Richter blinked, completely surprised. Was it possible that Yoshi was giving him a compliment? A smile started to cross his face.

  “That being said, you are an absolute fool for not investing any points into attack or defense,” Yoshi continued.

  The smile died. Well, that didn’t take long, he thought sourly.

  Yoshi, looked at him for a moment, “If you ride in the center of the warband, your SoI might be large enough to cover the entire party. That would take a level of discipline, and a preciseness of movement, that I doubt your people are capable of, however.” He shook his head, “It would have been helpful if you had enough War points to purchase Sphere of Influence II. You should really take your point acquisition more seriously.” The adept looked at him judgingly.

  “I did! You did see that I have four ranks in forest movement speed, right?” Richter said, irritated.

  Yoshi just hmpf’d, “I will admit, investing in forest travel is beneficial. If you had enough War points, I would have you buy the next rank.”

  “These are my points, you know,” Richter said in irritation.

  Yoshi looked back at him, and his eyes began to glow again.

  Asshole is doing it on purpose, Richter realized. He thinks he can bully me! Yoshi kept staring at him for another minute, which Richter thought was complete overkill.

  “What the hell is that?” he finally asked. “The glowy eye thing.”

  Yoshi glared a second longer before his e
yes relaxed to normal, “It is a badge you can purchase once you become a journeyman in War Leader.” From experience, Richter knew he wouldn’t get much more out of the swordsman than that.

  The adept lowered his voices and stepped closer, “Your men and women have most likely never been in a large battle. I would guess that you have not either.” Richter nodded. He really hoped Yoshi wasn’t about to mock him again. After the half-sprite spoke again, he wished the half-sprite’s words were only mocking. Deadly serious, Yoshi look Richter in the eye, “War is not pretty. It is not tidy. It is horrible and bloody. By nightfall tomorrow, all that will be left of some of us is meat. I know that investing in defense will only help those that are in your war party, but it is better than nothing. I will leave to you the decision of how to distribute your points. I have final preparations to make.”

  Yoshi walked off to speak to some of the other sprites, leaving Richter to ponder his options.

  Badge

  Cost

  Description (applies to entire party)

  Melee Attack I (Closed)

  25

  +5% to melee attacks

  Melee Defense I (Closed)

  25

  +5% to melee defense

  Ranged Attack I (Closed)

  25

  +5% to ranged attacks

  Ranged Defense I (Closed)

  25

  +5% to ranged defense

  Magical Strength I (Closed)

  25

  +3% to magical strength

  *Must specify spell school upon acquisition. May only choose spell school used during battle leading a War Party.

  Magical Strength II (Life) (Closed)